Tag: Fake Dating

Review: Funny Story by Emily Henry

Posted October 17, 2025 by Brenna in Reviews | 0 Comments

Funny Story by Emily Henry

Reviewer: Brenna
Main Leads: Daphne Vincent, Miles Nowak
Setting: United States, Michigan, Waning Bay
Genres: Romance, Contemporary
Tags: Opposites Attract, Fake Dating, Roommates to Lovers, Small Town Romance, Friends to Lovers
Published On: April 23, 2024
Publisher: Berkley
Format: Audio
Source: Purchased
Pages: 395
Purchase It: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

A shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.

Daphne always loved the way her fiancé, Peter, told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it… right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra.

Which is how Daphne begins her new story: stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.

Scruffy and chaotic—with a penchant for taking solace in the sounds of heart break love ballads—Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned-up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them?

But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex… right?

This book is one of my favorite reads of the year because we were able to see and feel all the feels with both Daphne and Miles. I haven’t read a lot of books from the main male lead’s perspective so I loved that we got to know Miles while Daphne was getting to know him. It added so much to my enjoyment of the book as a whole cause I felt like we got a fuller understganding of the romance between Miles and Daphne. The twists were twisting and I loved every second of reading this book.

Daphne was my girl. I connected with her story a lot because I saw a lot of my story in hers. She was raised by a single Mom and she was close with her Mom. I was raised by a single Mom and I’m close with my Mom so it was easy for me to connect with a lot of the things that Daphne took into consideration when making life decisions. I loved that she always made her Mom a priority and was considerate of her Mom in all of her major decisions. I also really loved how supportive her mother was. The most important thing to her Mom was Daphne’s happiness and I really love a supportive Queen.

Seeing the relationship between Miles and Daphne blossom was a good time. They balanced each other out so well and challenged each other to be the very best versions of themselves and I just really dug it. I really liked how they handled whatever was thrown their way like adults and they just made it so easy to root for them and their romance was steamy enough to keep things interesting so all in all, I was a happy camper.

This book was so good that I couldn’t put it down. I was excited to see how everything played out and I liked getting both of the main leads perspectives for the same situations, even if we got Miles through his interactions with Daphne. They were so different from each other but together, they made sense so seeing them both move on from their relationships and come together in to their own was a treat that I’m glad I stuck around for.

I’m very happy that I picked up this book. I loved how everything came together, and obviously, this was a funny story so I definitely recommend.

Final Rating

5 out of 5

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Review: The Deal by Elle Kennedy

Posted July 16, 2025 by jennreads55 in Reviews | 0 Comments

The Deal by Elle Kennedy

Reviewer: Jenna
Series: Off Campus #1
Main Leads: Garrett Graham, Hannah Wells
Setting: United States, Massachusetts, Hastings
Genres: Romance, Contemporary, New Adult
Tags: Hockey Player, College Setting, Fake Dating, Tragic Pasts, Tutor Girl, Heavy Themes
Published On: February 24, 2015
Publisher: Bloom Books
Format: Tradeback
Source: Borrowed
Pages: 360
Purchase It: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

She’s about to make a deal with the college bad boy… Hannah Wells has finally found someone who turns her on. But while she might be confident in every other area of her life, she’s carting around a full set of baggage when it comes to sex and seduction. If she wants to get her crush’s attention, she’ll have to step out of her comfort zone and make him take notice…even if it means tutoring the annoying, childish, cocky captain of the hockey team in exchange for a pretend date. …and it’s going to be oh so good!

All Garrett Graham has ever wanted is to play professional hockey after graduation, but his plummeting GPA is threatening everything he’s worked so hard for. If helping a sarcastic brunette make another guy jealous will help him secure his position on the team, he’s all for it. But when one unexpected kiss leads to the wildest sex of both their lives, it doesn’t take long for Garrett to realize that pretend isn’t going to cut it. Now he just has to convince Hannah that the man she wants looks a lot like him.

The Deal is the first book in the Off-Campus series that follows Hannah Wells and Garrett Graham in their college era. Hannah is a driven student with a traumatic past that makes her extra careful when it comes to relationships. Garrett on the other hand is the star of the hockey team who despite the jock stereotype is passing all his classes except one, his ethics class who he just happens to have with Hannah. When he realizes he needs to get his grade up to be eligible to play he seeks her out for a tutor. After refusing multiple times they realized they could both benefit from this transaction. She helps tutor him and he helps make her crush Justin notices her by being seen with Garrett. But what starts out as a mutually beneficial agreement soon blooms into so much more than just friends!

I am a big hockey/sports romance girly so when Brenna asked if I had ever read the Off-Campus series I was so excited to have a new set of books to dive into and boy did the first not disappoint one bit! From the writing to the character development to the spicy scenes were amazing. The relationship Elle made between Hannah and Garrett was beautiful and so genuine. From their bickering to bantering to their intense chemistry in the bedroom was chef’s kiss! I loved it!! It was such an easy read and everything flowed so nicely. I was never confused on what was happening in scenes and honestly could not put the book down. It had me hooked from the very first chapter which I loved. The two POVs were so helpful and it was nice to see both of their thought processes and sides of the story!

Overall I was head over heels for this book and Garrett Graham! I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is a fan of sports romance or wanting to get into it!

On to the next book in the series! Let’s see what Logan gets himself into!

Final Rating

5 out of 5

Off Campus Series

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Review: The Deal by Elle Kennedy

Posted May 15, 2025 by Wena in Reviews | 0 Comments

The Deal by Elle Kennedy

Reviewer: Wena
Series: Off Campus #1
Main Leads: Garrett Graham, Hannah Wells
Setting: United States, Massachusetts, Hastings
Genres: Romance, Contemporary, New Adult
Tags: Hockey Player, College Setting, Fake Dating, Tragic Pasts, Tutor Girl, Heavy Themes
Published On: February 24, 2015
Publisher: Bloom Books
Format: e-Book
Source: Purchased
Pages: 360
Purchase It: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

She’s about to make a deal with the college bad boy… Hannah Wells has finally found someone who turns her on. But while she might be confident in every other area of her life, she’s carting around a full set of baggage when it comes to sex and seduction. If she wants to get her crush’s attention, she’ll have to step out of her comfort zone and make him take notice…even if it means tutoring the annoying, childish, cocky captain of the hockey team in exchange for a pretend date. …and it’s going to be oh so good!

All Garrett Graham has ever wanted is to play professional hockey after graduation, but his plummeting GPA is threatening everything he’s worked so hard for. If helping a sarcastic brunette make another guy jealous will help him secure his position on the team, he’s all for it. But when one unexpected kiss leads to the wildest sex of both their lives, it doesn’t take long for Garrett to realize that pretend isn’t going to cut it. Now he just has to convince Hannah that the man she wants looks a lot like him.

I read this book so long ago and wondered if it would hold up if read in 2025 and while there are some things that have aged the book, my enjoyment didn’t change. It took me no time at all to finish a re-read of this book and I’m thrilled that my enjoyment held up because I really do adore these characters.

Garrett plays hockey for Briar U and is one of the popular guys on campus. Hannah is a musician that studies hard and gets good grades. She has a huge crush on Justin but is too shy to talk to him so when she’s the only person in class that aces a test, Garrett offers to exchange talents with her so that they can both get what they want. Garrett wants a better grade in the class and Hannah wants Justin. So they agree to help each other out and of course they fall for each other.

Elle Kennedy does a great job of writing fun stories with steamy romances and characters that really leap off the pages. Garrett and Hannah were both such complex but charming characters that it wasn’t hard at all to root for them. There’s a great balance of all the emotions in this one. There’s humor, there’s sweet moments, and there’s depth. I remember when I first read this one, I wasn’t expecting the depth but I was glad that we got it. My heart softened so much seeing Garrett, the man who is used to getting whatever he wants, struggle with the changes in his life that came with Hannah. I loved that those struggles didn’t last long and I also really loved seeing Garrett go soft for Hannah at every turn. He had such a fun personality that the arrogance wasn’t off-putting.

Hannah was a huge highlight in the story for me. I loved that she didn’t let Garrett get away with anything. I loved that she kept him on his toes and that she was such an introvert. She was the complete opposite of Garrett and I really enjoyed seeing her blossom under his care. The difference in the way that she was with Garrett and then with Justin made me happy because I was rooting for her and Garrett.

Their romance was both fun and emotional for me. I cried a lot (again) when they first started sleeping together because the care that Garrett showed her was so sweet and seeing Hannah come into her own, seeing her become more and more confident made me so damn happy. Seeing the both of them become sure of their feelings for each other is what romance is all about. There was a lot to love about this book and all these years later, I still recommend this to everyone that I know. I still love the heck out of this book, these characters, and I always love being in this world. I loved both of the main leads on their own but I loved them all the more together. They completed each other and reading this story was like being a part of their story so do I recommend? Absolutely.

Off Campus Series

4.5 out of 5

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Review: The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

Posted May 6, 2025 by Wena in Reviews | 0 Comments

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

Reviewer: Wena
Series: The Kiss Quotient #1
Main Leads: Stella Lane, Michael Larsen
Setting: United States, California, Silicon Valley
Genres: Romance, Contemporary
Tags: Fake Dating, Autistic Female Lead, Asian Romance, Male Escort Main Lead
Published On: June 5, 2018
Publisher: Berkley
Format: e-Book
Source: Purchased
Pages: 323
Purchase It: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

A heartwarming and refreshing debut novel that proves one thing: there’s not enough data in the world to predict what will make your heart tick.

Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases—a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with, and way less experience in the dating department than the average thirty-year-old.

It doesn’t help that Stella has Asperger’s and French kissing reminds her of a shark getting its teeth cleaned by pilot fish. Her conclusion: she needs lots of practice—with a professional. Which is why she hires escort Michael Phan. The Vietnamese and Swedish stunner can’t afford to turn down Stella’s offer, and agrees to help her check off all the boxes on her lesson plan—from foreplay to more-than-missionary position…

Before long, Stella not only learns to appreciate his kisses, but to crave all the other things he’s making her feel. Soon, their no-nonsense partnership starts making a strange kind of sense. And the pattern that emerges will convince Stella that love is the best kind of logic…

The book starts off with our heroine, Stella Lane, having dinner with her parents and her Mom mentioning the fact that she would like grandchildren soon so that has Stella thinking. When a colleague at work brings up her lack of successful dating, Stella figures she needs to hire someone to teach her how to be good at having sex. Stella has Asperger’s and that makes things hard for her because her mind won’t turn off and she says the wrong thing and her partner always gets turned off and so she’s learned some things to get through sex but she doesn’t ever enjoy it herself. She needs professional help and that is when we meet my boo thang, Michael Phan.

Michael Phan is a dead ringer for Daniel Henney, much to his chagrin but it’s helped him in his undercover gig as a male escort so he can’t complain too much. He’s got his reasons for the way that his life turned out and while he doesn’t have regrets, he sometimes has them. He holds himself to a set of rules, a code of ethics, if you will that keeps his professional and his personal life separate. All of those rules seem to have gone right out the window with his latest client, Stella Lane because he’s breaking rules left and right.

Stella hires Michael to help her be more comfortable with sex…only, their first night together, they don’t get past second base so plans change and before either of them know what’s what, Michael and Stella are teaching each other all about love and intimacy. Stella can’t help her personality any more than Michael can help his financial situation. The more time that they spend together, the more they have to fight from falling in love with each other. Stella doesn’t think anyone would love her and all of her quirks while Michael feels the shame of his secret life-threatening to overwhelm the ever living shit out of him.

I loved the heck out of this story. I loved Stella. I loved Michael. I loved both of their families and I seriously could not get enough. I know that I love a story when I keep texting Holly in between scenes, explaining to her in detail why I’m loving the book so much. I texted Holly a lot while reading this book.

I loved Hoang’s writing style. I thought that the way she wrote Stella’s character, her struggles with being autistic and just the way that her personality was, it felt authentic and it was written in a way that I completely got what Stella was going through, what she was thinking and I just got it. I really, really loved Stella and how her moral compass was planted firmly in what she thought was right. I loved seeing her love Michael and I loved whenever she changed the plan because when she secretly changed the plan to seduce Michael, my heart sighed ever so happily. She was just a freaking great heroine that I loved oh so much.

Stella made the book fantastic but the addition of Michael Phan? OMG. I completely adored him. His devotion to his family, to his cousins, to his Mom’s business and just everything. The wealth of love coming from this man had me from the jump. I loved seeing him fall in love with Stella. From his confusion over what was happening to his crush and then to him realizing he was in love with her? OMG, so stinkin’ good.

For me, this book was a complete romance. I enjoyed every single minute of this book and I’m super anxious for the next book to come out. Helen Hoang did so well with this book and seriously, if you’ve been on the fence about reading this book, don’t be. You have no reason to fear you won’t enjoy this book. I have every confidence that you’ll love it.

4.5 out of 5

The Kiss Quotient Series

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